1 . Recently, China has announced the list of the first five national parks. Each of them is divided into two parts — the core protection area and the general control area. In the core protection area, only research and surveillance (监视) in science are allowed. And the general control area is open to the public, allowing travel activities such as camping and hiking. In the future, national parks are expected to be natural classrooms. People can learn about different kinds of animals and plants through eco-friendly travel activities.
Three River-Source National Park on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the largest national park in China. Because it is home to the sources of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, people call it “China’s water tower”.
Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park is in Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces. It covers an area of 14,100 square kilometers. It is our country’s biggest and only place for wild Siberian tigers and Amur leopards to live in.
Wuyi Mountain National Park in Fujian Province is a UNESCO natural and cultural heritage site. The forest makes up over 96 percent of the park. The park is the paradise of birds, kingdom of snakes and world of insects. You can also see the Danxia landform there.
Giant Panda National Park connects panda habitats in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces. Inside the park are more than 1,600 wild giant pandas. They make up over 70 percent of the pandas in China.
Hainan Tropical Rain forest National Park is the largest tropical forest in China. There are more than 400 kinds of plants that can only be found in Hainan.
1. Which is called “China’s water tower”?| A．Three River-Source National Park. | B．Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park. |
| C．Giant Panda National Park. | D．Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. |
| A．a perfect place | B．a happy feeling |
| C．a good example | D．a sweet smile |
| A．Three River-Source National Park is the largest national park in China. |
| B．Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park covers an area of 14,100 square kilometers. |
| C．There are more than 1,600 wild giant pandas in Giant Panda National Park. |
| D．More than 400 kinds of plants and animals can only be found in Hainan. |
| A．The beautiful scenes of nature | B．The home of animals and plants |
| C．The introduction to the five national parks | D．The relationships among the five national parks |
2 . My name is Ben. I am 13, and I live in Chantilly, VA. Just yesterday, June 24, I was at home watching my sister, who is mentally handicapped (弱智的). My father was at work while my mother and younger sister were at my mother’s office.
I had noticed the clouds growing darker and the ones to the east were turning green. At first I thought nothing of it, but then on TV, the weather reporter was announcing a big thunderstorm warning, one that usually brings hail (冰雹) and heavy rain.
After seeing that, I called my mother and told her about it. She told me I should not be worried because it was just a thunderstorm so we hung up. Then I looked outside and noticed it was almost pitch black at 4：30. I took a flashlight (手电筒) because I was sure the power was going to go out any second. Then no sooner had I gotten back from getting the flashlight than the weather reporter announced a Tornado Warning! I had never been in an actual tornado before, but I had seen some funnel clouds before in Montana.
Suddenly I realised I had no time to lose and I had to try to get my sister down the stairs to the basement in a matter of minutes. I surprisingly got her down there with no trouble at all and I raced back up the stairs to get the cordless phone. When I got back downstairs my dad called and told me to get downstairs immediately. I told him I was already down there! He said OK and we talked for a few seconds and then we hung up. Then_through the basement windows, the only thing_I_could_see_was_lightning.
I do not recall hearing of any deaths, or too many injuries so I guess everyone got a good head start to run to their basements. Either that or we are all lucky.
1. Ben took a flashlight because ________.| A．he wanted to look for something | B．it was not bright enough in the room |
| C．he wanted to take care of his sister | D．he was prepared for the power off |
| A．By staying upstairs at home. | B．By running out of the house. |
| C．By hiding in the basement. | D．By using the cordless phone. |
| A．Worried. | B．Excited. | C．Disappointed. | D．Encouraged. |
| A．It was completely dark outside. | B．They were scared. |
| C．The flashlight was broken. | D．It was at midnight. |
3 . Adverse impacts on health due to extreme weather and vector-borne disease risks could increase in the United Kingdom (UK) under a warming climate, according to a report published on Monday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The report, written by 90 experts, is based on climate projections using a high-end warming scenario (可能发生的情况) or a “worst-case scenario” of approximately 4.3 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100. “Our changing climate poses one of the greatest health security and societal challenges, impacting everything from the air we breathe to the quality and availability of our food and water,” Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said in a statement. The report estimates that there will be up to 10,000 deaths in the country by the 2050s as a result of extreme heat.
Based on a high-end warming scenario, the report anticipates a substantial surge in heat related deaths, with an increase of over 1.5 times by the 2030s and an over 12-fold rise by the 2070s. It also states that vector-borne diseases, such as chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses, could become transmissible in London and other parts of the UK due to more Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquitoes) and Culex mosquitoes.
The report also warns that more people will be at high risk of flooding in the future due to changing rainfall patterns.
“Action is needed now to adapt our policies, environments and our behaviors to secure health, well-being and livelihoods,” Oliver said, adding that much can be done to “avert (避免) and prevent” the impacts of climate change on health.
UKHSA, an executive agency sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care, is responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats.
This year is set to be the hottest year on record in human history, according to a report published by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?| A．To introduce the warming climate. |
| B．To remind people about the harmful impacts on health under climate change. |
| C．To help people get rid of external health threats. |
| D．To display UK’s dependence on food. |
| A．Availability of our food and water caused by high-end warming scenario. |
| B．10,000 deaths caused by vector-borne diseases. |
| C．Flooding in the future caused by varied rainfall patterns. |
| D．Transmissible vector-borne diseases caused by flooding in the future. |
| A．A smooth drop. | B．A sharp decline. | C．A small growth. | D．A massive rise. |
| A．Increasing food supplies. |
| B．Averting and preventing the climate change. |
| C．Adjusting the policies, environments and people’s behaviors. |
| D．Planning, preventing and responding to health threats. |
4 . Over the past 45 years, farmer Fu Benfa has planted countless trees on barren (不毛的) mountains near Qilita village in Suizhou, Hubei province. The task would have been a challenge for an able-bodied person, let alone a person with paralysis (瘫痪).
Fu, 65, was paralyzed in an accident in January 1978. News about green development through measures such as expanding forests in the province caught his attention. He got the idea that he might be able to contribute. Fu’s parents strongly disagreed because of his poor physical condition. But he insisted. His father finally acquiesced and made him a special shovel (铁锹) and straw mat (草席).
In the winter of 1978, Fu came to a barren mountain and began the task that would occupy him for decades. He sat on the straw mat and tried to dig a hole to plant a tree in, but he failed to finish it after working all day. He didn’t give up, however, and tried various kinds of movements until he became more efficient. Every day he spent more than 12 hours on the mountain. After a month, he had successfully planted 18 trees, 13 of which survived.
Three months later, he had planted more than 300 trees, most of which survived. Over the next 30 years, Fu brought green color to five mountains around his village. With the help of local governments, a forest protection volunteer service team was set up to carefully protect and guard the green mountains.
After years of study and exploration, Fu has gained rich experience and taken advantage of technology. He has taught more than 200 nearby farmers, free of charge, to increase their incomes by planting trees. Recent health problems have slowed Fu down. He has been recovering at home since February.
“Now it is difficult for me to continue planting trees in the mountains, but I will always guard this forest,” he said. “I will never change my dream.”
1. What does the underlined word “acquiesced” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Quit. | B．Agreed. | C．Argued. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Fu Benfa was far-sighted. | B．Fu Benfa suffered little. |
| C．Fu Benfa was physically poor. | D．Fu Benfa was strong-willed. |
| A．To better their life. | B．To draw their interest. |
| C．To find more helpers. | D．To make more progress. |
| A．Planting Trees Changed the World |
| B．Fu Benfa Helped Farmers in the Village |
| C．An Able-bodied Man Amazed the Country |
| D．For 45 Years, a Paralyzed Man Planted Many Trees |
5 . Landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom has designed a new green roof on the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University, about 25 miles north of central Bangkok, Thailand. Her imaginative work challenges the common thinking that urbanization has a negative impact on the planet, whether flooding, excess (过度的) energy use, disrupted (扰乱) biodiversity or the heat island effect.
The 236, 806-square-foot structure, which opened in December 2019, includes a flood water management system and Asia’s largest rooftop organic farm. It combines modern landscape architecture with traditional agricultural knowledge, creating a green and friendly environment.
The green roof, containing an H-shaped landscape, looks like a futuristic hill with a brick building beneath it. The hill features a complex pattern of zigzagging terraces (之字形梯田) of planted beds, leading all the way down to the bottom. When rainwater hits the roof, it flows down the zigzags while being absorbed by the soil in the beds, The excess water is directed into four storage ponds — with a capacity of up to 3 million gallons. The process slows down the flow speed of rainwater runoff compared to a normal concrete rooftop. This keeps the area from flooding during heavy rains.
The roof’s terraces are filled with organically grown crops, including a drought tolerant variety of rice, many local vegetables and herbs. The farm can supply the canteens on campus with a large amount of rice, herbs and vegetables a year. The food waste is composted (把……制成堆肥) to fertilize the farm, and water from the storage ponds is used to water plants, creating an entirely localized and circular system.
The farm serves as an outdoor classroom and a source of local jobs, too. Farmers offer workshops on sustainable agriculture and nutrition as part of the university’s sustainability curriculum. “Students and community members are invited to participate in seasonal seeding, harvesting, and so on,” says Voraakhom. “The urban farm is training a new generation of organic farmers with real-world skills. It also promotes a sense of community.”
1. What can we say about Voraakhom’s work?| A．It’s short-lived. | B．It’s creative. |
| C．It’s demanding. | D．It’s time-consuming. |
| A．To store more water. |
| B．To plant diverse vegetables. |
| C．To slow the speed of water flow. |
| D．To make it look more attractive than other buildings. |
| A．It uses food as fertilizer. | B．It benefits the environment. |
| C．It improves students’ lifestyle. | D．It produces vegetables and fruits. |
| A．Students can learn hands-on knowledge on the farm. |
| B．Farmers working on the farm can become professors. |
| C．The farm prevents government from offering people jobs. |
| D．The farm harms the relationship between university and community. |
6 . Scientists have known for years that plants respond to sounds around them. For example, flowers make sweeter nectar (花蜜) to the sound of buzzing bees. But now scientists in Israel have shown that plants also seem to be doing some “talking”.
Professor Lilach Hadany and her team at Tel Aviv University set up microphones to record tomato and tobacco plants under different conditions. Their recordings showed that the plants made ultrasonic (超声波的) sounds.
When the researchers adjusted their recordings so that humans could hear them, they heard sharp clicking noises. Plants clicked hardly at all when they had enough water. But as their soil got drier, they clicked more and more. When scientists cut off a stem (茎) from the plants, the plants also clicked more. But the clicking wasn’t the same as when the plants needed water.
It’s not clear how the plants make the sounds and whether the plants are making the sounds on purpose. But the plants are definitely making noises, and creating much more noises when they’re stressed (not enough water, stem cut off) than when they’re not.
The researchers trained an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to identify the different kinds of clicking sounds. The system was able to tell the difference between plants that needed water and plants with cuts about 70% of the time. The result suggests that researchers may one day be able to use a plant’s sounds to figure out when it is having trouble, and what trouble it is having. That could be very helpful to farmers.
The new discovery raises many more questions. One important question is: Do plants make sounds to communicate with each other? Other research has shown that plants do seem to communicate in some ways. Plants being attacked by insects send chemicals into the air. Soon, nearby plants (that haven’t been attacked yet) start to make other chemicals that don’t taste good to insects. It’s possible that the ultrasonic sounds could work in a similar way.
1. What do the researchers find in their recordings?| A．Plants’ stems click less when they are cut off. |
| B．Plants click harder if they have enough water. |
| C．Plants make more noises when they are thirsty. |
| D．Flowers make sweeter nectar to the sound of bees. |
| A．There are still some unknown issues. |
| B．Not all of them are able to make sounds. |
| C．There are ultrasonic sounds around them. |
| D．They make less noises when they’re stressed. |
| A．To help farmers drive away insects. |
| B．To identify people who are in trouble. |
| C．To show the growing process of plants. |
| D．To distinguish types of clicking sounds. |
| A．Methods for plants to protect themselves. |
| B．Other questions raised by the new finding. |
| C．When plants communicate with each other. |
| D．Under what conditions plants attract insects. |
1. What do bees do when they need to relax?
| A．Fly all day. | B．Make honey. | C．Play with balls. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. |
| A．A sugary treat. | B．A special treat. | C．A flowery treat. |
| A．Bees are more thoughtful. |
| B．Bees are more hardworking. |
| C．Bees are hard to get along with. |
1. What is the aim of the campaign?
| A．To remind people of Earth Day. |
| B．To encourage people to reduce garbage. |
| C．To warn people of the bad effects of pollution. |
| A．Planting trees. | B．Designing posters. | C．Collecting garbage. |
| A．Paint paper. | B．Stop driving cars. | C．Decorate classrooms. |
| A．Terrible. | B．Confusing. | C．Wonderful. |
9 . The world loves a cup of tea. It only takes a few grams to make a cup of tea and millions of tons of tea are consumed every year. Tea can be good for you because it contains some things that help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Tea also contains caffeine(咖啡因), which improves not only mental alertness but can also increase anxiety and cause other problems.
What would be agreeable is a tea plant that provides all the taste and goodness but with little or none of caffeine. Chen Liang and Jin Jiqiang in the Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences think they have found just such a plant, growing wild in a remote area in southern China’s Fujian Province. Known locally as hongyacha, the discovered plant grows only between 700 meters and 1,000 meters above sea level around a handful of Chinese villages. As they report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, not only is the tea plant naturally caffeine-free but it also contains a number of unique medicinal compounds that, the locals believe, offer considerable health benefits.
The researchers are now exploring methods to protect hongyacha in its natural habitat while further studies are carried out. It can take time—and sometimes it does not work—for new plant varieties to be bred for commercial use. A pair of naturally caffeine-free coffee plants were discovered in 2003, but little progress has been reported. Tea lovers will be watching hongyacha with interest. And others will wonder what else is out there.
1. What’s the disadvantage of drinking tea according to paragraph 1?| A．It can make people hard to sleep. | B．It can make people feel anxious. |
| C．It can get people addicted. | D．It can take people much time. |
| A．It is nothing but just medicine. | B．It can only survive in greenhouses. |
| C．It is a good pick for caffeine lovers. | D．It has a good taste and little caffeine. |
| A．Its future location. | B．Its natural habitats. |
| C．Its future market. | D．Its production process. |
| A．A health magazine. | B．An advertising brochure. |
| C．A travel guidebook. | D．A newspaper. |
For most people, adopting (收养) a pet is one of the best decisions that they can ever make in their lives. In addition to giving an animal a home and a loving family, the owner will find the company of a pet brings more happiness than expected.
For someone like Maria, having a pet was very suitable. She was all alone after moving to a new apartment in Brazil, which made her feel lonely.
So when she found a cute black puppy named Chips, she knew she had to take him home. Maria thought that Chips would be able to fill the emptiness that she had been experiencing from living all alone.
Maria was right. Once she took the puppy home, they immediately bonded. However, as Maria had to work during the day, she was worried about leaving Chips home alone in her apartment. She was also worried that his crying would upset her neighbors.
One night, when she returned home, outside her door was a package with a folded note attached to it. Maria knew that she was in trouble. She hoped that she would not be evicted (驱逐) from her new apartment because of Chips. She loved Chips so much, and she was afraid that she might have to get rid of him because he made too much noise whenever she was away. Maria was frightened and wondered who could have left it at the door because she had little contact with the people in the building except her neighbor, Angelia. In fact, they only said hello few times.
However, when she noticed the names on the folded note, she found that it wasn’t addressed to her but to her dog, Chips, and that it was “written” by another dog named Corote. Maria opened the package first and found a few toys for pets.
注意：续写词数应为150个左右。
Curious, Maria opened the note and started reading it.
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With Chips following her, Maria knocked at Angelia’s door.
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